Evaluation - Part 7 - I have learnt...

I feel I have learnt a lot since completing the preliminary task. I have mainly learnt about Photoshop and all the different techniques that you can use to make the skin clear and to make the pictures brighter and stand out more. The techniques I learnt include the spot healing tool which allows you to remove spots on the models face or body, before constructing this magazine I was unaware of the spot healing tool and how effective it could be.  

The above images show me using the spot healing tool in enhance my pictures.

I learnt that not only can you just insert text on to the picture but you can also alter the picture so it looks completely different. This is best shown in the tutorial we did on how to alter the picture.

 As you can see the photo to the left is the before shot and the picture to the right is the after edited shot. We learnt how to produce the picture on the right and how to apply it to our own pictures. In the tutorial we learnt about the spot healing tool and many others that can be used to influence the pictures and to make them have a more professional finish.

I have also learnt that research is very important and looking at other magazine front covers to see what the typical music magazine looks like, the conventions of a magazine such as the masthead, left third, flash/splash, header, features and many others. I also researched the average price of magazines, which I discovered was £3.00.  The main inspiration for my magazine came from looking at other pop magazines such as Billboard. I got the idea for my masthead from Billboard as it stood out against all the other pop magazines, and it also looked fun and appealing to my target audience.

By looking at other magazine it made the whole process a lot easier to understand and achieve. This was a great help for me as I’m not a very imaginative person and it helped me to visualise what I wanted my final piece to look like. Compared to the main task the preliminary task was a lot different to produce. This was because the pictures were different and had to portray the school/college in the pictures, whereas the music magazine pictures had to portray the artist and what there about in the pictures. For example in the picture to the left below is from my college magazine and the girl in the shot is representing Wyke as a whole not just herself. This is shown in the way she is stood slightly to the side so the college can be seen in the background. Whereas, in the picture below to the right is the picture from my music magazine cover, the difference is, is that the girl in the music magazine is portraying herself and what kind of 'artist' she is. this is shown by the fact she is holding a guitar. The background in the picture also suggests that it is set in an urban environment, this is important as it will engage the urban teenage readers.  

 I have also learnt that time keeping is important, especially in the music magazine task. I found when looking back that I worked a lot slower than what I should have been doing, and part of this was not realising how much work was needed to be done in such a short time space that seemed a lot longer than what it actually was.

Evaluation - Part 6 - technologies

I have learnt a lot about Photoshop when producing my magazine. Before this project I had never used Photoshop before and had no idea how to use it. I now know what different tools do and how they work to improve pictures, text, and the overall appearance of the final product.

I learnt how to use the patch tool. This tool allows you to select an area, in this case an area of skin that has either a spot or mark on, you can then replace the area of skin with another area by dragging the area highlighted to the clear bit of skin. The marked area is then replaced with the clear area. I used this tool to remove some of the darkness below the models eyes.

I learnt how to use the burn tool. This tool allows you to make certain parts of the picture darker, for example I made around my artists eyes darker so they stand out more. In order to get the effect of the burn tool you need to adjust the settings available at the top of the screen to make slight adjustments to the picture, until you get the effect you want. You can use the exposure setting to adjust the amount of burning that occurs. The range will specify the range of tones that will be affected.

This tool is known as the dodge tool. I learnt that this tool is the opposite to the burn tool, this tool allows you to lighten parts of the picture. You can change the adjustments at the top in order to achieve the effect you want, and again you can change the exposure settings to achieve this. I used this tool on her eyes and on parts of her hair. The effect isn't very noticeable on her hair, this is because I made subtle changes.

I learnt about the levels tool. The levels tool allows you to make the picture lighter or darker, this gives the picture some 'punch', and makes the colours in the picture more prominent. In order to get to the levels tool you need to go to levels, then new adjustment layer, and then to levels. Once you have clicked on this the below picture can be seen. This shows the adjustments of the colours which are being changed in the picture.

I also learnt on Photoshop about layers. All the different parts of the fished product are on things called layers, because each thing on the product is on a different layer you can alter each thing individually for example make things smaller or bigger or change the colour of one bit of text without altering all the text on the page. I learnt the advantage of layers, because on my contents page when I coloured in the middle of each letter I didn't realise that I had done two words on the same layer. So when I went to move the small 'Refresh' in the corner, the colour in the centre of the letters of 'Inside this week' moved as well. This was because I had put them both on the same layer. My mistake made me realise that it is important to make sure things are all on different layers.

I also learnt the importance of using a good camera, by doing this it makes the picture better quality and less out of focus. For example, when I took my first set of pictures I used my own camera with 8.2 mega pixels and with this camera the quality of the pictures wasn't very good, as you can see below. The picture also came out very dark even though I was using a flash, this is because I was taking the picture inside and on my second set which are a lot brighter they have been taken outside with a 15 mega pixel camera. This created a much better quality of the overall pictures. Before producing this magazine I wouldn't of known that taking the picture outside would of made any difference, even if your using the flash inside it still doesn't produce the same quality. I also learnt that the quality of the camera is important in producing a photo that isn't going to be out of focus. As you can also see the picture taken with a better quality camera and taken outside also doesn't have a black shadow surrounding it which gives it a much fresher look then the first set of photos I took.

Not only have I learnt about the different techniques used on photoshop and how it was used. I also learnt about blogger. For every bit of work contributed to our coursework we have been told to upload it to blogger. In doing so it allows everyone to see each others work, this was a positive as you could share ideas with friends and also see how they have improved their work. It also allows you to complete work at home on a computer without leaving bits at collage. This was helpful in complete deadlines, and also it meant that you didn't have to remember to bring anything as you could access it all on a computer.

Evaluation - Part 5 - attracting the audience

 The demographic of my magazine is 13 to 17 year old teenage girls, at this age I think appearance, socialising and rebelling against your parents is what their main priorities lay. I think my magazine attracts teenage girls using these things. For example, on the cover of my magazine I have used a teenage girl who is around the same age as my target audience. She has long blond hair, clear skin, blue eyes and the typical 'girl next door' look. Stereotypically this is what most teenage girls want in them self. She is looking directly at the camera which makes her easy to engage with the reader as it is as if she is looking straight at them. I also tried to use artists that teenage girls would easily recognise and be in to such as The Wanted and JLS. When looking back through my questionnaires I have noticed that half of the questionnaires completed said that the artists mentioned on the cover would make them buy my magazine. The other half mentioned that the eye catching house-style colours in the masthead would make them buy it, the mention of free competitions and a free gig, and the main feature caught someones eye. I think all these things mentioned would appeal to my audience age group as the people I asked where within this age group. The eye catching colours was something I mentioned at the beginning of this coursework as the thing I would use to lure my audience in. Looking at my audience feedback I feel as if I have achieved this, and that it works to lure in the teenage girl population. 

Other feedback given included negative feedback. One thing mentioned a lot was the fact that there are too many gaps on the front cover. I agree with this criticism, as the front cover does look bare compared to a real music magazine. When constructing the front cover I think I was trying to show case the photo by not having a lot on the front cover. The background also made it hard to put text over it and to change the colour because of the colour in the background. One person suggested that I should of used a more interesting type face and this would make them less interested in the magazine as it looks plain. Another person suggested using something eye catching this would be something like a splash or a flash. Someone else suggested that on my contents I should include more information on the contents of each sub-heading about what each feature includes. Overall, people said the same negative things about the magazine. I asked each person who filled in a questionnaire if they would by this magazine all of them said yes, I then asked them how often and two said monthly, two said weekly, two would subscribe, two said every fortnight, and two said every two months. This is shown in the graph below. 


I think I have made this magazine a little bit too expensive for my age range at £3.00, as the majority of the people who filled in my questionnaire said they would pay £2.00 or £2.50 for it. However, some people said they would pay £3.00 for it but these where the people who said they would buy it monthly, whereas the people who said £2.00 where the people who would either buy it weekly or fortnightly or only every two months. This suggests that either the people who would pay weekly for it wouldn't be prepared to pay £3.00 a week but would at £2.00, or that the people who said they would buy it every fortnight or every two months don't buy music magazines very often and when they do they are only prepared to pay £2.00 for them.

Evaluation - Part 4 - audience

Originally my magazine was aimed at those who are interested in pop music and new upcoming artists. The magazine is aimed mostly at girls as it is easier for me to relate to young girls who enjoy this genre of music as this is the genre I enjoy also. The age range of my music magazine ranges from 13 to 17 as I believe this is that age range in which young people start to get interested in music. It is also the age I believe that people decide what they’re going to be like as a person such as what crowd they are going to be in and what clothes they are going to wear and what their future holds for them. This is relevant to the magazine I wished to create because it was meant to be all about fresh new pop music that have different styles and create their own crowd instead of following the others. However, I now think after creating my magazine that it appeals to the crowd that follow the rest of the crowd. This is because it is very cheesy pop, and cheesy pop tends to have the latest trends that everyone else has and isn’t the trend setter itself. My magazine is all smiles and ‘coming from nothing to something’ this is typically what teenage girls believe can happen, whereas the people who don’t follow the crowd stereotypically tend to be seen as the outsiders, and those who are ‘different’ in teenage social groups, and wouldn’t necessarily be interested in pop music.

Evaluation - Part 3 - institution

I originally chose IPC media as the institution for my magazine, Refresh. IPC media currently only produce one music magazine within their vast selection of magazines they produce. The only magazine they produce is NME this magazine is a completely different style to the magazine I wish to create. The genre of my magazine is pop, whereas NME is more indie rock and is aimed at people in their twenties whereas Refresh is aimed at teens. IPC Media produces over 60 iconic media brands, with print alone reaching almost two thirds of UK women and 42% of UK men – almost 26 million UK adults. They currently don't produce any magazines for children or teens so my magazine will be completely different to anything they have produced, and will add to their large selected range of magazines. They currently produce magazines for women, such as Look, Now, Chat and Women; they also produce magazines for men, such as Rugby World, Nuts, Mousebreaker and World Soccer. By producing my magazine it would be a start of a new teen sector which they currently do not have, by doing this they will have a brand new audience to add to their vast collection of current readers. Everything about IPC is aimed at adults for example there website is very formal and has more writing then pictures and doesn’t use bright colours that would attract teens, but by producing my magazine it may give them the chance to be more creative with their website, and in creating more magazines aimed at teens and young children’s. Because IPC only produce one other music magazine that is the complete opposite to Refresh there would be no competition between profits or audiences as they are both completely different.

http://www.ipcmedia.com/

Evaluation - Part 2 - representation

I aim to represent the young and upcoming female pop artists in the music industry. I think my magazine represents the female pop industry more than the male industry as I haven’t really included anything to represent the males. I have mentioned male pop groups within my magazine but these are bands that are popular with females and young teenage girls. My magazine represents girly girls and the ‘clean faced’ pop starts that are popular with mid-teens. I think I have done this by using a girl who is the same age as my target audience, and has the 'girl next door' clean faced look. The magazine aims to represent the girls who follow the latest trends, have sleepovers, and hangout with their ‘besties’. Pop as a genre is very vast, there are different types of pop music from Jessie J type pop which has an edge of R’N’B and rap mixed in, to Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus who produce soft fluffy pop. This is the type of pop that my magazine represents. I have tried to emphasis the 'cheesy pop' genre within the words used in my double page spread by using words the over exaggerate everything, such as extraordinary. I have also tried to make my magazine relateable to to teenagers who come from the urban scene and think that they can't achieve something. I have done this by taking my picture in an urban setting, against a graffiti covered wall, this is something that most teenagers have seen in an urban environment so it is easy for them to relate to. I have used the same background on my double page spread also. I have also tried to represent teenage girls who live in more rural areas by including a picture on the contens that is taken in a snow covered field, this is less relatable to the city girls then the country girls. I have also tried to include both on the front cover in the small teaser underneath the main feature which says "Small town girl goes global..." this could almost be seen as bring the two different type of teenager girls together.

  Refresh doesn’t represent the adult population as much as teens this is because of the content and they words used for example I have used the word ‘teens’ when talking about my cover star, and have included things that interest me and what I would like to find out as a teen, such as what it’s like to be a pop star, and how celebrities deal with the negative press. The fact that everything in the magazine is aimed a teens means that the magazine doesn’t represent a large group of people these include OAP’S, mothers, middle aged people, young children and even teen age boys.

Evaluation - Part 1 - Conventions